Wampler: Test, test and test some more. Also, create an FAQ document of the expected changes and
highlight some of the new features. Those features
may sound complex, when in most cases they can
be simplified with documentation and “how-to”
type procedures. The FAQ should be for staff and
membership, as well documenting and highlighting
what is appropriate for both audiences respectively.

FORUM:Have you had any particular lessonslearned from going through any implementa-tion and rollout processes that you can share?

Diazluna: User adoption can be directly correlated
on how involved business users have been in the
early stages of the process. As I mentioned above,
identify your “champions” as early as possible so
that they can drive user adoption. Do not start an
AMS implementation that is driven by IT. Technology is not reason enough to start a project of this
magnitude and IT shouldn’t be the sponsor of an
AMS implementation. Instead, an executive of the
organization should be the sponsor. Define a steering committee that can help with prioritization and
resource allocation. Fail fast, fail often and learn
from your mistakes.

Wampler: Keep everyone involved as much aspossible. An AMS project can be lumped into justbeing an IT project, when it is really an organizationproject that just happens to be technological innature.

FORUM:Anything else you think is worth not-ing in this article?

Diazluna: The organization should be willing to
transform itself and look introspectively into their
current processes. Trying to make a system do
something because, “We have always done it this
way,” is never a good thing. The organization needs
to be open to change and transformation in order to
be successful on a system implementation or in any
other situation for that matter.

Wampler: Network with your fellow IT peeps and
consultants/partners in the space so you can find
out what others are talking about with their AMS
platforms. You will find out you are not alone and
may also share in some lessons learned so your next
implementation or upgrade can be smoother.

Courtney Kiss is the Marketing Director at Johnson Lambert
LLP. She can be reached at ckiss@johnsonlambert.com.
Francisco Diazluna can be reached at francisco@diazluna.
com. Jason Wampler, CAE, ITIL®, CSM can be reached at
jason.l.wampler@gmail.com.

“Did I mention scope creep? In all seriousness, I would alsoadd in the risk or associations thinking the AMS is only an“IT” thing. The project/process is all about improving theassociation’s capabilities for their members. This includeseveryone from all departments and requires input and workfrom those departments as well, while doing their daily job.It’s hard, but it is only for a short time, relatively speaking,and in the end, will only help the organization succeed.”